NOVEL NEXT 59: Sands and Whispers
Elisa, Mei, Helena, and Otto were gathered in Elisa's office, in an intense discussion about the topscalers' escalating power plays and Koko's audacious legal claim when the door slid open.
Sigrid rushed in, her face pale, her breath coming in ragged gasps. "Elisa! It's—it's the Provider! Maximilian and Koko… they've taken it. Detained it. There are CorpSec guards all around the grove."
Before the shock of her words could even settle, Elisa's comm unit crackled. It was Maximilian. "Commander Woodward, report to the alien grove immediately. Ser No has breached containment. It's making a move for the large Provider creature. We have it surrounded, but it's… unresponsive."
Elisa and her group exchanged a single, horrified glance, then bolted from the room, sprinting through the corridors toward the grove.
When they arrived, the scene was a tense standoff. Ser No stood calmly beside the massive, segmented supply creature, its dark robes a stark contrast to the pale, living vessel. A ring of a dozen heavily armed CorpSec operatives had it surrounded, their rifles aimed, targeting lasers painting dots on its impassive, reflective mask. Maximilian stood at the forefront, his expression a mixture of cautious wariness and frustration.
"What is going on here?" Elisa demanded, pushing her way through the line.
"This creature," Maximilian snapped, gesturing at Ser No, "ignored instructions to remain in its designated quarters. It is attempting to abscond with what is now a colony asset."
Sigrid stepped forward, her eyes blazing with contempt. "It's responding because you dragged its leader away in chains! You caused this, Maximilian! And now that there's a problem you call us to deal with it?"
Elisa ignored the escalating argument. She pushed past the guards, motioning for her own group to follow, creating a small, protected space around the alien. "Ser No," she said, her voice calm and steady. "Please. This is a misunderstanding. We can resolve this."
Ser No turned its head, the movement slow and deliberate. "There is no misunderstanding, Commander."
"I will give a direct order to have the Provider released at once," Elisa offered, her voice firm.
"The Provider instructed you not to oppose these forces," Ser No replied, its tone quiet and unshakable. The reminder was a chilling echo of the Provider's own words, a display of knowledge she hadn't realized was shared.
"Then why are you here?" Helena pressed. "Why are you trying to take the creature if not to resist?"
"I am not resisting," Ser No stated simply. "I am leaving."
The statement stunned them. "Leaving?" Sigrid echoed. "Leaving to go where?"
"The resources must be gathered," Ser No said, as if explaining the most obvious thing in the world. "The Provider's directive is unchanged. We cannot afford to lose more time." It turned its gaze to Elisa. "I propose a joint expedition. My workers and I will travel south, to the groves we have shown to Ser Mei. We will uproot them, harvest their mineral and organic wealth. We have the means to process them in the field."
It then gestured towards a small, newly-grown pen near the edge of the grove, where a cluster of juvenile golden beetles scuttled about. "Ser Mei will take these. She will lead a second team to the northeast. A logistics hub should be established near the Valley of Hope, where you have access to ground water. You must send caravans to retreive the materials from all these sites."
Elisa stared, bewildered. "You want us to split our forces and launch two major resource expeditions… now? While Koko is thirty days from seizing legal control of this colony? While your leader is being held prisoner?"
"That is irrelevant," Ser No replied, its voice a flat, unwavering line. "The resources are essential to our collective survival. And survival aligns all things."
Helena let out a frustrated breath. "Don't you understand? People like Koko, like Davron—they don't care about collective survival! They would gladly let this entire world burn if it meant they ended up in power on top of the ashes!"
Ser No tilted its head. "You have been given the Provider's data nexus. Your Regulator, ARI, has your neural patterns backed up. Even if the self-destructive elements succeed in their endeavors, your continuity is assured. Your physical vessels are… secondary. Your informational patterns will survive."
The alien logic was both terrifying and irrefutable. It saw their political squabbles as a trivial, localized dysfunction that had no bearing on the long-term strategic objective.
Ser No focused on Elisa again, its presence seeming to press in on her, reinforcing the Provider's instruction. "Do not be distracted by the actions of these individuals. Do not oppose them. Follow the plan. Gather the resources. Retrieve the transmitter. Build the launch vehicle. This is the only path. This is how we all survive."
Elisa stood at a crossroads. Every instinct screamed at her to stand her ground, to fight Koko, to free the Provider and deal with the immediate crisis in front of her. But Ser No's words, echoing the Provider's own profound, alien certainty, offered a different path. A path that ignored the chaotic, emotional present in favor of a brutally logical, long-term future.
She looked at the determined, unreadable mask of Ser No, then at the tense faces of her own team. She let out a long, slow breath, a decision solidifying within her.
"Alright," she said, her voice quiet but firm. "You can go." She nodded to Mei and Sigrid. "Get all the available toploaders and ground vehicles ready. Organize the teams. We're getting the resources."
She had no idea if this was the right choice. But it was the only one that seemed to lead anywhere but back into the same old, self-destructive human games.
===
The silence inside the Provider's wrecked vessel was profound, broken only by the low hum of their suits and the mournful whistle of wind across the strange, twisting alien superstructure. Dmitri Ganbold knelt beside the skeletal remains, his bulky environmental suit making the movement awkward. He ran a gloved finger over the dull ceramic of the dead soldier's chestplate.
"The composition of this armor… it's a ceramic-polymer composite, certainly, but the weave is crude," he mused, his voice echoing slightly in his helmet. "Almost primitive. It lacks the micro-laminate reinforcement of standard Company issue. I'd wager this was manufactured locally, with limited resources."
Casimir and Yao Guowei returned from a sweep of the adjacent corridors, their helmet lights cutting sharp beams through the gloom. "Nothing, Director," Guowei reported. "The entire spire has been stripped. We found more scorch marks, evidence of cutting torches. Whatever was valuable here was taken a long time ago, before the crystals moved in."
Qian Shirong, who had been running a portable scanner over the skeleton, looked up. "Director, are we entirely certain this is… human? The Provider's workers, from a distance, bear a striking resemblance to us. The gross morphology is consistent with Homo sapiens, but…"
"A valid point, Doctor Shirong," Dmitri conceded. He turned his head slightly. "ARI, what is the probability that these remains are human?"
"Based on skeletal structure and dental records inferred from jaw structure," ARI's voice replied through their comms, "I am over ninety percent certain the subject is of human origin. However, without genetic sequencing capabilities on-site, I cannot provide absolute confirmation. This expedition is not equipped for archaeological analysis."
"So we won't know for sure until we get this back to the base," Dmitri grumbled, more to himself than anyone. He stood, brushing black sand from his knees. "And that, gentlemen, is a problem." He gestured broadly at the looted chamber. "The transmitter is gone. But the Provider also gave us the coordinates to a structure to the northwest. If there was a civilization here, a human one, that's likely where we'll find answers. And hopefully, the transmitter. We're going there next."
A ripple of reluctance went through the team. "Director," Kyreth's cut in, "flying blind into another unknown, potentially hostile site… that's a significant risk. We don't know what we're walking into."
"But we don't have the fuel to be making long round trips," Luo Zuri added. "Bringing these remains back to the base for analysis and then flying all the way back here is a nonsensical waste of our reserves."
Dmitri held up a hand, silencing the debate. "We are not returning to the base. We are proceeding. We will take what is necessary for identification of these remains and leave the rest. Time and resources are luxuries we do not have." He looked down at the skeleton. "Guowei, Ervin, secure the head and helmet. Carefully. We'll bring that back for analysis. The rest stays here."
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He then turned his attention back to the comms. "ARI, I need a safe location for the night. Is there any shelter between our current position and the structure where we can rest and reassess?"
"Evaluating topographical data now, Director," ARI replied. "There is a rocky mesa approximately fifty kilometers to the west of your direct route. It appears to be a geologically stable formation, and initial long-range scans show no signs of crystalline infection in that immediate sector. It is a viable location for a temporary camp."
"Excellent," Dmitri said, his tone one of finality. "You heard the AI. Pack up the samples, get back to the Phoenix. We'll decide our next move from that mesa tomorrow."
There were no further arguments. The crew carefully detached the skull and helmet from the ancient corpse, placing it in a padded containment case. They packed their equipment and retreated from the eerie, silent wreck, casting wary glances at the shimmering crystal formations that seemed to watch their departure.
The Phoenix lifted off, the low roar of its engines a welcome sound. Ervin settled into a seat beside Kyreth in the cockpit. "A human," Ervin murmured, staring out at the desolate landscape below. "Out here. It changes everything."
Kyreth nodded, his hands steady on the controls. "Yeah. Makes you wonder if there are other colony ships that never made it."
Dmitri, observing from his command seat, interjected. "The more pertinent question, gentlemen, is not if they were human, but what became of them. They were here long enough to manufacture their own equipment, to salvage alien technology. They were an established presence."
"And they didn't thrive," Kyreth finished grimly.
The flight to the mesa took less than half an hour. Luo Zuri set the lander down in a wide, flat clearing atop the rock formation as the sun began its descent, painting the sky in fiery hues of orange and crimson. Below, in the distance, they could see strange, multi-colored pools shimmering in the fading light: salt flats and sulfur deposits, harsh and varied geology.
"Guowei, Casimir, scout the perimeter," Dmitri ordered as the ramp lowered. "I want a full security sweep before we set up."
The two soldiers moved out, rifles at the ready. It wasn't long before Casimir's voice crackled over the comms, a note of surprise in his tone. "Director, we've found plants. Red ones. Looks like a small, uninfected grove nestled in a fissure on the eastern side."
A collective sigh of relief went through the cabin. The presence of the Provider's familiar flora was a comforting, if small, sign that this place might be safe. "Good," Dmitri replied, a hint of his usual jovial tone returning. "Set up the camp. Deploy the solar arrays to recharge the drones. I want them at full power tomorrow, even if we only have a few hours of daylight left."
As the team began to set up their temporary camp, Guowei and Casimir called in again. "Director, there's something else here. A crack in the mesa on the far side. It leads down to the desert floor. There are… steps. Carved into the rock."
Dmitri and Ervin exchanged a look, then immediately headed out to investigate. They found the fissure exactly where Guowei had described it. A narrow staircase, clearly artificial, had been cut into the stone, leading down into the shadows. At the top of the stairs, the entrance to a cave had been widened and smoothed, its interior dark and silent.
They entered cautiously, helmet lights on. The cave was a simple, functional shelter. The floor had been leveled, and crude niches for storage had been carved into the walls. A fire pit sat in the center. It was abandoned, but the signs of habitation were unmistakable.
"This was a lookout post," Yao Guowei said, his voice echoing slightly in the small space. "High ground, defensible, with access to the plains below and the resources up here."
"Someone was living here," Ervin murmured, running a hand along the smooth, carved wall. "Farming these plants, perhaps. Watching the desert."
Dmitri made a decision. "We'll use this cave for rest tonight. It's already sheltered. Saves us time packing up in the morning."
Later, as the team settled in for the night, the conversation returned to the inevitable questions. Dmitri sat with Ervin at the mouth of the cave, looking out over the darkening plains.
"If there was another human civilization here, Ervin, it's likely long gone," Guowei said thoughtfully. "The question is, what happened to them? And what was their relationship with the Provider, if any?"
Ervin nodded. "We have many questions for the Provider upon our return. Did it know about them?"
"it had a human-made transmitter," Guowei answered. "That doesn't prove direct contact, but it's a strong indicator."
"I'm more interested in how they interacted with the crystals," Ervin replied. "Did the crystals consume their ship? Their settlements? Or… is it possible the crystals were a result of something they did?"
The line of questions continued on, but was unanswerable. For now, all they had was a skull in a box, a looted alien wreck, and the unsettling certainty that they were not the first beings to settle this desolate world.
===
The suite assigned to General Secretary Lin Xiu Ling had been transformed. Where once it had been a standard, if spacious, topscaler module, it now resembled a small, elegant court. The utilitarian furniture had been replaced with pieces fabricated to her exact specifications: Ancient, refined Taihezu designs in dark, polished composites. Delicate alien Centauran flora, labourously cultivated in the greenhouse, sat behind glass in sterile, carefully managed climates. The air was scented with a faint, floral aroma and precious hand-made incense.
Koko sat behind a large desk of obsidian-like material, a picture of absolute control. A retinue of newly reinstated household servants moved silently in the background, arranging small plates of delicacies on a side table. Gleaming pink fruits, finely sliced protein cuts and fine selections of miniature pastries rested on finely adorned ceramic plates. None of it was being eaten. It was there for display, a testament to her restored status.
Davron Federoff sat opposite her, his own posture rigid, his usual air of effortless authority noticeably diminished in the face of Koko's ascendant power. He had spent the last cycle with Mikhail Petrov, combing through every line of the Centauran Conglomerate charters, every addendum of the UEC corporate legal code. The conclusion was inescapable, and infuriating. Koko's executive life insurance claim, a relic of a bygone era of corporate warfare, was ironclad. Under the obscure but binding articles of the Kimberly Accords—an ancient treaty designed to resolve asset disputes in cases of catastrophic corporate assassinations—her personal claim as a deceased executive took precedence over general shareholder claims. It was a loophole, a quirk of interstellar law, but it was undeniable.
"General Secretary Lin," Davron began, his voice a smooth, practiced baritone, though it lacked its usual resonance. "I have reviewed the legal precedents with my counsel. Your claim is… formidable. I am here today to discuss a mutually beneficial settlement."
Koko picked up one of her small silver chopsticks, examining it as if she had never seen such a thing before, before setting it down again. "A settlement, Director Federoff? I fail to see what would be mutually beneficial. In thirty days, I will be the majority shareholder of this initiative. The benefit seems rather… singular."
Davron's clenched his teeth, but he pressed on. "A colony divided against itself cannot stand, Koko. A protracted legal battle over assets, even one you are likely to win, would only create instability. I propose an alliance. A joint administrative council. Your claim would be formally recognized and you will be the majority shareholder, but the remainder would be distributed proportionally between our directors. We would rule together, ensuring a stable and orderly transition."
Koko's lips curved into a thin, dismissive smile. "You are offering me a share of what will already be mine. That is not a proposal, Director. It is a request for charity."
He tried again, shifting tactics. "Consider the personnel. My people that are still in stasis, the security forces, legal and technical teams, they are essential to the long-term viability of this colony. Alienating them would be… strategically unwise."
"Unwise for whom?" Koko countered, her voice dangerously soft. She leaned forward slightly. "Speaking of personnel, Jiang Wei has been most… cooperative. He has made a very interesting proposal. He believes he is on the verge of replicating the Provider's worker-creation technology. He has offered me exclusive access to the first generation of his own bio-engineered workforce." Her eyes glinted. "Imagine, Davron. A workforce that is tireless, efficient, and loyal only to us. A workforce that could, in time, replace the… unreliable and increasingly insubordinate colonists we are currently forced to rely upon."
The implication was chilling. She wasn't just planning to take over the colony; she was planning to replace its people.
"So," she continued, her gaze unwavering, "you speak of alliances and the value of your personnel. But I ask you directly, Director Federoff: what, precisely, are you offering me?"
Davron was silent. He had nothing. His power, his influence, was predicated on the shares he no longer controlled.
Koko's smile widened, sharp and predatory. "Where are your shares, Davron? And more importantly, where is your son? What has he been doing while you have been trying, and failing, to reassert your family's authority?"
"Tamarlyan… is pursuing strategic initiatives," Davron said, his voice strained.
"Is he?" Koko tapped a command on her desk's integrated console. A datapad, delivered moments before the meeting by a discreet Jin Altan, slid across the polished surface towards Davron. "Perhaps you should review this. It is a transcript of a private communication, logged by Commander Altan's security detail. Between your son and your household guard, Yao Guowei. The night of the vote."
Davron picked up the datapad, his hands suddenly unsteady. He read the short, damning lines of text. A direct instruction from Tamarlyan to Guowei. An order to vote in favor of Elisa Woodward.
The betrayal was a physical blow. He stared at the screen, the words blurring, the sheer, calculated audacity of his son's actions crashing over him. He had been undermined, not by an external rival, but from within his own family. Humiliation, hot and sharp, coursed through him.
Koko watched him, her expression one of cold satisfaction. "Your son has chosen his side, Davron. He has aligned himself with the colonists, with Woodward. He has betrayed his family, his heritage, his very name."
She stood, walking around the desk to stand over him, a figure of absolute, unassailable power. "You are a director without shares, a father without the loyalty of his son. You have nothing to offer me. You have nothing at all."
She paused, letting the weight of his failure settle upon him.
"However," she said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, "I am not without… a certain degree of sentiment. I will give you a chance to restore your family's honor. You have twenty-nine days, Davron. The same twenty-nine days I have until my claim is finalized. In that time, you will bring your son to heel. You will restrict him to his quarters. You will use whatever means necessary to compel him to transfer his inherited shares back to you. If you succeed, if you can prove you still have some measure of control… then we will have another round of negotiations."
She leaned in, her voice a final, chilling command. "Do not let your family's strategic initiatives obstruct me in the meantime, Director."